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Bernard McEvoy
by George J. Dance Bernard M. McEvoy (February 7 1842 - February 16, 1932) was a Canadian poet, artist, journalist, and art critic.Bernard M. McEvoy, Art & Artists in Exhibition: Vancouver, 1890-1950, BritishColumbiaArtists.ca. Web, Sep. 20, 2015. Life McEvoy was born February 7, 1842, in Birmingham, England, a son of Naomi (Greaves) and Henry Nisbitt Ebenezer McEvoy. He could read and write by age 6, and wanted to be a journalist. However, at his father's insistence he studied engineering at Shropshire. He was educated as a mechanical engineer, and spent many years in the business. He contributed articles to newspapers in northern England, and eventually turned to the profession full-time. He married Susan Isbel (Holmden) in Plymouth, England, on May 27, 1869. The couple would have 8 children.Bernard McEvoy (1842 - abt. 1932), WikiTree, February 28, 2018. Web, July 4, 2018. In 1874 McEvoy wrote a prize-winning story for the Birmingham News on life in the city, which led to his being employed full-time by that paper.Walter Blackburn Harte, "Canadian Journalists and Journalism", New England Magazine 5 (1892), 492. Google Books, Web, Sep. 20, 2015. He came to Canada in 1888 to work on construction of a railway, but that project fell through. He then found work with the Mail and Empire in Toronto. He eventually became associate editor of the paper, where he wrote mainly on municipal matters. His art criticism for the Mail was such that "he was almost immediately recognized as the best art critic in the country, and he received numerous invitations to lecture upon artistic and social matters." He also contributed poems, stories, and art criticism to Belford's, The Independent, and other magazines. McEvoy moved to Vancouver in 1906. There he worked for the Vancouver Province, where he wrote a regular column under the pen name of "Diogenes". Aside from his journalism, he was well known as both a poet and an artist. He also worked occasionally as an architect; a church he designed was built in Kirkfield, Ontario. He was a founding member of the B.C. Fine Arts Society in 1908, and was represented in its inaugural exhibition. He also had paintings in the society's exhibitions of 1910, 1912, 1915, and 1917, posthumously in 1936, and retrospectively in 1950 and 1960. He was one of the principals behind the Pauline Johnson Trust, which formed in 1911 to assist Canadian poet Pauline Johnson with her medical bills, after she contracted breast cancer, by privately publishing her Legends of Vancouver.Linda Quirk, "Privately published by the Pauline Johnson Trust," Historical Perspectives on Canadian Publishing, McMaster University. Web, Sep. 20, 2015. In 1920 he was a founder of the B.C. Art League, formed to create an art gallery and school in Vancouver. On February 16, 1940, at the age of 90, he died at his home (1776 West Tenth Ave.) following an attack of bronchitis. On his death, the Province hailed him as "the oldest working journalist in the British Empire." Publications Poetry *''Away from Newspaperdom, and other poems. Toronto: G.N. Morang, 1897. *The Feast of the Dead. Toronto: Brown-Grable, 1899. *''Verses for My Friends. Vancouver: Cowan & Brookhouse, 1923. *''Elvira and Fernando, and other selections''. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1927. Play *''The Spratts: A comedy in three acts''. Montreal: Southam Press, 1927. Non-fiction *''Report on Technical Education. Toronto: Morang, 1900. *From the Great Lakes to the Wide West: Impressions of a tour between Toronto and the Pacific. Toronto: William Briggs, 1902. *History of the 72nd Canadian Infantry Battalion: Seaforth Highlanders of Canada'' (with A.H. Finlay). Vancouver: Cowan & Brookhouse, 1920. Edited *''Political Reminiscences of the Right Honourable Sir Charles Tupper, Bart.'' (edited with W.A. Harkin & A.E. Greenwood). London: Constable, 1914. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Bernard McEvoy, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Sep. 20, 2015. See also *List of Canadian poets References Notes External links ;Poems *"Farewell to Summer" *Bernard McEvoy at PoemHunter ("Imagines Vitae") *2 Poems by Bernard McEvoy at Black Cat Poems ("Farewell to Summer," "Tarot") ;Books *Bernard McEvoy at Amazon.ca Category:1842 births Category:1932 deaths Category:Canadian poets Category:Canadian journalists Category:Canadian art critics Category:19th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets